A live-action series adaptation of Rick Riordan’s popular The Kane Chronicles book trilogy is officially in development at Disney+. The project will see Riordan himself co-creating and executive-producing the series alongside writer-director Angela Robinson. This move to a streaming series format follows a six-year development journey that previously involved Netflix for a film trilogy. The series is being produced by 20th Television, the same studio behind the successful Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on Disney+, with The Gotham Group also involved.
The Kane Chronicles: A New Journey for Egyptian Mythology on Screen
The Kane Chronicles trilogy, comprising The Red Pyramid (2010), The Throne of Fire (2011), and The Serpent’s Shadow (2012), centers on siblings Carter and Sadie Kane. These young protagonists discover they are descendants of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Narmer and Ramses the Great, and must harness their inherited magical abilities to battle chaos gods threatening the modern world. While no casting, episode count, or premiere date has been announced, the involvement of Riordan and Robinson signals a dedicated creative vision for the adaptation.
From Film to Streaming: The Evolution of The Kane Chronicles Adaptation
The path to Disney+ has been a winding one. In September 2020, Netflix announced plans to adapt The Kane Chronicles into a trilogy of feature films, with Diandra Pendleton-Thompson attached to write. However, after four years of development without a script that satisfied the studio, Netflix’s option lapsed in February 2024. The rights then reverted to Rick Riordan, who subsequently partnered with 20th Television to bring the story to Disney+ as a series.
This shift from film to streaming is seen by many as advantageous. The success of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which garnered significant viewership on Disney+ and Hulu, demonstrates the effectiveness of the television format for adapting Riordan’s expansive worlds. A series allows for a more detailed exploration of each book’s narrative, a feat often challenging within the constraints of feature films.
Meet the Kanes: Dual Heritage and Divine Identities
At the heart of The Kane Chronicles are Carter and Sadie Kane. Carter, a Black American teenager, has traveled extensively with his Egyptologist father. His sister, Sadie, was raised in London by their maternal grandparents following their parents’ separation. Their lineage connects them to Narmer, the pharaoh who unified Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 BCE, and Ramses the Great. This dual heritage positions them as conduits for powerful Egyptian deities: Carter hosts the war god Horus, while Sadie hosts the goddess Isis.
The narrative kicks off when their father inadvertently unleashes the chaos god Set and disappears. The estranged siblings must then learn to control their burgeoning magical powers, form unexpected alliances, and rescue their father before Apophis, the primordial serpent of chaos, can plunge creation into eternal disorder. The story is as much an exploration of identity as it is a fantasy adventure, delving into the complexities of dual heritage and the nature of divine possession.
Angela Robinson’s Vision: A Thematic Resonance
The selection of Angela Robinson as writer-director is particularly noteworthy. Her previous work, particularly the 2017 film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, explored themes of identity, cultural legacy, and the complexities of unconventional relationships. This background suggests a deep understanding of the intricate thematic layers within The Kane Chronicles, particularly how the siblings grapple with their dual cultural and divine identities.
The Magic of Heka and the Cosmic Balance of Ma’at and Isfet
Riordan’s magic system in The Kane Chronicles is rooted in the ancient Egyptian concept of Heka, the deification of magic and medicine. Heka was considered a fundamental force that predated duality, wielded through spoken words, hieroglyphs, rituals, and amulets. This approach aligns with ancient Egyptian beliefs where actions and words could be intrinsically linked, a concept echoed in modern speech act theory and quantum information physics, which explore the causal power of information.
Beyond magic, the trilogy’s deeper cosmological framework draws from the Egyptian principles of Ma’at (cosmic order, truth, and justice) and Isfet (chaos and dissolution). The constant struggle against Isfet, personified by the serpent Apophis, mirrors the scientific concept of entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which posits a universal tendency towards disorder. The Egyptians, through mythology, recognized that maintaining order required continuous effort, a principle that resonates with modern scientific understanding of the universe’s inherent drive towards equilibrium.
The character of Set, the god of chaos, is portrayed with sophisticated nuance. In Egyptian mythology, Set was crucial in battling Apophis, representing the necessary disruptive force that allows for renewal and prevents stagnation. This aligns with complexity theory’s concept of the “edge of chaos,” where systems thrive through a balance between order and disorder.
Divine Hosting and Modern Neuroscience
A unique element of The Kane Chronicles is the concept of “Hosting,” where gods like Horus and Isis inhabit human hosts while maintaining their distinct consciousness. This mythological exploration of multiple entities sharing a single physical form resonates with contemporary neuroscience, particularly theories on consciousness and split-brain research, which investigate the nature of selfhood and the possibility of multiple centers of awareness within one individual.
A Stronger Foundation for Adaptation
Unlike the earlier film attempts, Riordan’s direct involvement as co-creator and executive producer on the Disney+ series provides a level of creative control that was absent in previous adaptations. This, combined with the proven success of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and a showrunner whose work aligns thematically with the source material, suggests a more promising quality for The Kane Chronicles adaptation. The timing is also strategic, with a third season of Percy Jackson set to debut in late 2026, potentially building a larger audience for the expanding “Riordanverse” on Disney+.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Kane Chronicles coming to Disney+?
Yes. Disney+ and 20th Television officially announced in September 2026 that a live-action series adaptation of Rick Riordan’s three-book Kane Chronicles trilogy is in development. Rick Riordan is co-creating and executive-producing the series with writer-director Angela Robinson. The series is produced by 20th Television, the same studio behind the ongoing Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. No premiere date, casting, or episode count has been announced.
What happened to the Netflix Kane Chronicles movies?
In September 2020, Riordan announced that Netflix had acquired rights to develop The Kane Chronicles as a trilogy of theatrical films. Netflix commissioned a script from writer Diandra Pendleton-Thompson but spent four years in development without producing a film they were satisfied with. In February 2024, Riordan announced that Netflix had placed the project in turnaround — meaning the studio’s option had lapsed without production beginning — and the rights reverted to him. 20th Television subsequently acquired the property for Disney+, shifting the format from feature films to a streaming series.
How does The Kane Chronicles connect to Percy Jackson?
The Kane Chronicles is set in the same fictional universe as Percy Jackson and the Olympians — Riordan’s broader “Riordanverse.” The Kane books take place in the modern world alongside Greek mythology (Percy Jackson), where Egyptian gods are equally real. Riordan even published a set of crossover short stories — collected as Demigods and Magicians — in which Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles characters directly interact. Disney+ is developing both series under the same production umbrella (20th Television, The Gotham Group).
What is the Egyptian concept of Heka, and how does The Kane Chronicles use it?
Heka is the ancient Egyptian deification of magic and medicine — a force that, according to Egyptian cosmological texts, existed “before duality had yet come into being.” In the Egyptian framework, Heka was wielded through spoken words, written hieroglyphs, ritual gestures, and amulets, all understood as channels for the same underlying universal force. Doctors were called “priests of Heka.” Riordan’s adaptation of Heka into The Kane Chronicles closely follows authentic Egyptian theology, presenting magic as a learned discipline rather than an innate power — which has genuine parallels to modern theories in philosophy of language (speech act theory) and quantum information physics (the hypothesis that information has genuine causal force in the physical world).
